4 August 2020
This report was produced by the Environmental Enforcement Watch, a project of EDGI. Data utlizied to produce this report comes from the EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO)
DISTRICT INFORMATION
Massachussetts’ 4th Congressional District
Joe Kennedy
Democrat
Years in Office:
Relevant Committee Membership: Energy and Commerce Committee
Relevent Subcommittees: tbd
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is the oldest house committee, and has one of the broadest mandates. Among other things, it has jurisdiction over environmental protection, clean air and climate change, safe drinking water, and toxic chemicals and hazardous waste. Additionally, it has oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency.
What can Joe Kennedy do?
As a member of this committee and subcommittee, Joe can . . .
Cosponsored Bills in Interest Areas
Pull info from govtrack
Highlights for Your District
2271 regulated facilities in MA 4
1743 RCRA facilities
446 CWA facilities
464 CAA facilities
^turn this into a bar chart comparison with national and statewide numbers
Put in all of this info once we have it and figure out how to visually represent -
- Total (all program) violations vs. total facilities
- Number of recurring violations (3+ quarters in violation) in the last 12 quarters
- % change in CWA effluent violations
- % change in inspections
- % change in enforcement $ and #
Program Specific Information
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the “cradle-to-grave”, regulating the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. Although facilities self-report under RCRA, like the CAA, violations are most often found after an inspection, and a reduction in violations might mean a reduction in inspections. EPA
Program Specific Information
Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the comprehensive federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources. Among other things, this law authorizes EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants [EPA] (https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-air-act). For the CAA, inspections are the most common way of identifying violations, so less violations aren’t necessarily an improvement. Recent cuts in inspections is likely related to a drop in violations.
